Elysia's "compressor from the future": Mpressor 500

12 Oct 2016 by Simon Allen | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

Elysia Mpressor 500 Side view · Source: elysia.com

Elysia Mpressor 500 Top view · Source: elysia.com

Elysia Mpressor 500 Front view · Source: elysia.com

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The original Mpressor rack unit was a stereo compressor that quickly gained a very strong reputation. Although it’s a reasonably new piece of hardware in the analogue audio world, it’s become a favourite for many. As a dedicated hardware compressor, its versatility is unusual in that it can go from from subtle vocal compression through punchy drums to smashing your audio, offering many creative options. The mono Mpressor 500 also offers this range of possibilities whilst adding its own new feature, and coming in it a far lower price point.

Elysia Mpressor 500

I know that the original Mpressor stereo rack-mounted unit is 2U high and quite deep with a good weight to it. The first thing that strikes me about the images of this 500 series version is how have they managed to fit all those electronics into such a small space? Obviously a single Mpressor 500 is only one channel and the power transformers are in the master section of a 500 series chassis, but I still think it’s quite impressive.

The Mpressor is a very special hardware compressor as it can deliver such a variety of sounds. It almost behaves as if it were designed as a digital plug-in with the joy of analogue electronics added as an afterthought. It isn’t everyone’s desired compressor as ultra-fast attack times isn’t everyone’s style. However, it does offer a couple of unusual features such as ‘negative ratio’. This enables some very creative work with drums and beats. Secondly, it has a compressor gain-reduction limiter. This holds the compressor from adding any more GR so that you can achieve a consistent level of gain reduction. New to the Mpressor 500 is a ‘THD Boost’ button, which adds colouration and saturation. See the video below – it’s quite impressive.

500 series units are becoming increasingly popular and this will be a very attractive module for any 500 series owner. For those who don’t yet own any 500 series, this seems a very cost effective solution for what is quite an expensive unit in its rack mount version. I love the idea of the new THD Boost switch and I’m sure we will see this feature arrive in a plug-in soon.

More Information

Head over to Elysia’s webpage for the Mpressor 500 for more information and listening examples. Already available, the Mpressor costs 529.91 GBP ex VAT, or 595 EUR. I think that’s quite fair for a 500 series module of such a reputable piece of hardware.